Court Issues Decision on Challenge to USDA Bioengineered Food Disclosure Rule

On September 13, the U.S. District Court of Northern California issued its decision on the lawsuit filed against USDA challenging the Bioengineered Food Disclosure rule. The decision upheld the majority of the rule, including use of the term “bioengineered,” the exclusion of highly refined foods, and the preemption of state labeling laws for genetically engineered (GE) seeds.

The decision requests that USDA revise the disclosure options to address insufficient access to electronic disclosure. Currently, the rule allows for four different disclosure options: text, symbol, electronic or digital link, or text message. The decision found that the text message option does not sufficiently address barriers to access electronic or digital bioengineering disclosure under normal shopping conditions. The rule will remain in place until USDA makes revisions per the court decision. The full decision can be found here, and the Hogen Lovells analysis can be found here.